QUOTE | “I think wherever the Western market gravitates toward is what everyone will try to gravitate towards and create, and that will become the next red ocean. So I want to do something that’s not in there” - Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro tried appealing to Western audiences before. It didn’t work, so he doesn’t bother now.

STAT | 24.7% - The year-over-year decline of game software sales in the UK for March. Last month was bolstered by Far Cry 5, but couldn’t measure up to the March 2017 launch of the Switch and games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Mass Effect Andromeda.

QUOTE | “The great secret is that the player is always going to be on the railroad. There’s always going to be only so much freedom that you can offer, but the important thing is that if you do pose a question, give the player room to answer it.” Former Failbetter writer Cash DeCuir talks about how to make sure player choices in narrative games are meaningful.

QUOTE | “The most obvious advice is, of course: don’t crunch. While this might seem glib, when you’re faced with crunch you should really think if it is worth the risk.” - Rovio London product lead Will Luton talks about his own experience with occupational burnout, and how developers can spot and address it in their own ranks.

QUOTE | “They’re not framing it as an amazing opportunity. They’re framing it as, ‘Holy crap, I have five programmers to pay, and I have a money problem.’ Never mind the extra layer of building a business, growing a studio, and so on.” - Execution Labs co-founder Jason Della Rocca explains why many indie developers struggle to secure funding from investors.